Semper Fidelis
by Sabby87
Summary: Set during the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan has just returned to the Temple after a long mission and is full of doubts. Little does he know that the Force is about to answer him in the most unexpected of ways... CHAPTER 1. Any feedback is appreciated!


**Chapter 1**

Night was falling upon Coruscant as the _Twilight_ began its descent into the planet's atmosphere. Obi-Wan had tiredly sunk into a seat in the back of the cockpit. As he leaned against a window, his gaze moved from Anakin and Ahsoka, constantly bickering at the ship controls, to the distant lights of the skyscrapers below them. _This city never sleeps, _he thought to himself. As the spaceship approached the landing bay on top of the Jedi Temple, the last faint traces of the sunlight had faded away, and Galactic City was a dance of small flashing dots, blinding and cold in their artificial gleam. Yet, in that sight there was something refreshing and comforting to him. Coruscant was all his life. He had been raised in the safety of the Jedi training rooms as a child, he had explored the underworld of smoky taverns, gamblers and petty criminals as an adult. _I should go and see Dex, _he smiled. A good glass of Corellian ale would definitely do good to his tired body. Unfortunately, that would probably have to wait. The Council had urgently requested his presence for the next morning and the _Diner_ wasn't even visible from the tower. _Like many other things_, he thought.

The Temple was the tallest building in the entire city and thus, the most distant from the life teeming through the city with its small secrets, the joys, the sorrows, the friendships, the loves, the old people dying and the families celebrating their newborn children.

He hadn't been born on Coruscant. He could not recall his homeworld, not even its name. Ever since he could remember, he had been living at the Temple, with the Masters for parents and the other younglings for siblings. Qui-Gon had been his father. Anakin was his son and brother.

He yawned, his tired eyes slowly losing their focus on the pinnacles of the Temple.

Maybe the Council Tower was a blind eye on the city. But it was _home_.

--

"Home! We're home!" Ahsoka screamed joyfully as the Twilight touched down. She sprung out of the co-pilot's chair and ran down the loading ramp. Anakin stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. He walked towards Obi-Wan, who was reclined in sleep against the window, and shook him gently. "Our little retirement has officially begun, Master. We can forget the war for a while. You already look much more relaxed."  
"Are you coming, Masters?" Ahsoka yelled in the distance.  
"Go ahead Snips, we're coming in a minute!" Anakin shouted back. "I'm waiting for Oldie-Wan here." A distinct frown appeared on his former Master's face as he stirred.  
"I guess this is Ahsoka's own invention."  
"It's actually mine. But she approves of it."  
"Well, at least one of you is teaching the other something." Obi-Wan got up and followed Anakin out of the _Twilight. _They walked across the hangar, to the entrance of the Temple. The clang of their boots resonated through the deserted corridors as they headed for their quarters. They stopped in front of the door to Obi-Wan's apartments.  
"Here I am" Obi-Wan smiled and clapped on his former Padawan's back. "Thanks for the lift home."  
"My pleasure. You didn't even bother me with your usual "Stop flying like a madman, you suicidal fool!"  
"I've given up with you. Though in actual fact, I do think you are a suicidal fool."  
"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who flies with him?" Anakin grinned. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, jokingly.  
"You win. How in the Galaxy do you come up with these things this late in the night?" he yawned.  
"Yeah, I'm tired too, we'd better say goodnight. See you around, Master. if you need me, tomorrow Ahsoka and I will be having some fun with her lightsaber practice in the Chambers. Now, off to bed."  
"Good idea. The earlier I am before the Council tomorrow morning, the earlier I'll be free to go. I'm really looking forward to a long walk in the Room of the Thousand Fountains." He took a deep breath. "You know… I've missed Coruscant."  
"So have I, Master." Anakin replied absent-mindedly. He had turned away from Obi-Wan, and his gaze was now lost out of a window, towards the Senate building in the distance. "So have I."

--

When Obi-Wan woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Bright rays of light cascaded down from the transparisteel window above his bed, gently wrapping the entire room in their warm golden embrace. He moved in the bed, his body still heavy and slightly numb with sleepiness. He raised his back and leaned on his elbows. It felt almost strange to be wrapped in soft sheets, without the necessity of an armor to protect his bruised chest, his lightsaber resting on a small table well away from his side, no fully armed clone troopers lying on the ground at some feet's distance. _Today I'm not "General" Kenobi. _He felt relieved at the thought. Brave as he was – and surely not lacking in agility and style with a lightsaber, he considered with a self-satisfied grin - he had never really felt at ease on the battlefield. He fought in the war because that was what he was asked to do, and that was what he had to do, to protect the Republic.  
It was funny to think how he and Anakin had become almost legendary for their deeds during the Clone Wars. As if Dooku's droids weren't enough, wherever they went they also had to face ambushes by nosey HoloNet reporters. They had even received their own nicknames. "The Team", the reporters called them. Skywalker and Kenobi, "The Hero without Fear" and "The Negotiator". Well, better than "Oldie-Wan", for one thing. And at least, even in the war, he would not be remembered only for his dueling skills. But that was not how he had imagined his life as a Jedi. With age, he had developed a natural inclination to prefer the tranquility of retirement and meditation over the deafening clamors of the battlefield. Discussing the Force with a curious youngling, learning about the Masters of the old times, settling minor disputes between farmers on distant, peaceful worlds… that was what he appreciated the most about being a Jedi.

And Anakin, obviously. Qui-Gon would have told him that he should be grateful to the Force for such a great friend. He wouldn't deny that they had had some hard times together – they still did, actually – but there was nothing he regretted in accepting to train Anakin, _nothing_. To Obi-Wan Anakin wasn't just a friend closer than a brother, he also represented the secret and unconscious hope that Qui-Gon was right and that there was, indeed, a Will of the Force. Much as he trusted Anakin with his life, and he knew his former Padawan would become the greatest Jedi ever, Obi-Wan had become extremely disenchanted about the grand scheme of things. He had begun to wonder if there was room for a Will of the Force in the universe at all.  
The only will he could perceive in the slaughters in the Outer Rim was the blind survival instinct of the victims and the greed and hate that dominated the Separatists. If there was a great plan for all of them, it wasn't to be seen anywhere. Not among the bombed cities and the mutilated bodies, not among the families that had been divided forever. At such times as the ones he was going through, either one admitted that the Dark Side of the Force had its own will, and it was _stronger_, or one realized that the will of the Force was an illusion. It was the will of the Jedi Council he had sworn to obey when he had been knighted. _That_ was tangible and concrete… sometimes even too much, he thought with a grin to himself.

Anyway, inside the safe walls of the Temple the Force was still a friendly and reassuring presence. As he lazily got out of bed, he inspired deeply as if to breathe it in with the fresh morning air. He felt it as it reverberated in his soul, reinvigorating his body and putting aside his gloomy thoughts for some moments.

In his closet he found a newly washed tunic. It felt pleasantly fresh and soft on his skin. His gaze fell on the armored shoulder pads he had worn every day for months. He looked at the worn out, half-erased symbol of the Order impressed on them and the faintest trace of bitterness crossed his face again, the benefic sensation he had felt before shaking at its frail foundations. War was light-years away from him. But its horrors and contradictions pursued him relentlessly, leaving indelible scars in his heart. How long would it take before even the Jedi Temple was not _enough_? How long, before that last sacred sanctuary of peace was destroyed, whether by bombs or by his own doubts?

Today he was not "General Kenobi". He was simply Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight.  
Sometimes, it hurt bad enough.

He left his room and headed for the Council chamber.


End file.
